A Lionhearted Love
by TalkingToTulips
Summary: When Crown Princess Caroline is told that to take her father's throne she needs to be married, she has 28 days to become a bride. Low on options and desperate not to lose the throne to the Lockwood family, she turns to scandalous and party going Prince Niklaus and makes him a delicious offer. But how long can they spin a web of lies before they become tangled in it themselves?
1. Part 1

**Summary: When Crown Princess Caroline is told that to take her father's throne she needs to be married, she has 28 days to become a bride. Low on options and desperate not to lose the throne to the Lockwood family, she turns to scandalous and party going Prince Niklaus and makes him a delicious offer and adds some emotional blackmail for good measure. But how long can they spin a web of lies before they become tangled in it themselves? **

**So here's my new two shot, both parts are around 7,000 words! I basically wanted to take the whole 'Klaus marries Caroline for something (a green card/fill the blank) on its head and have Caroline the one in need. Then The Princess Diaries 2 was on TV, which is very interesting because of the law that prevents princesses from becoming Queens if they're unmarried. One thing led to another and suddenly I'd written 14,000 words. Just a little background, Caroline and Klaus are both from different royal families in Europe. You can choose what countries but it doesn't really matter. They're both unspecified. So, enjoy and shoot me a review! **

* * *

_All the world's a stage,  
And all the men and women merely players:  
They have their exits and their entrances;  
And one man in his time plays many parts._

**- William Shakespeare **

* * *

Caroline had been trained her whole life to be a perfect lady, the princess that she really was. She knew how to speak, act, dress and behave as a princess, who was soon to be Queen. She had been training all her life for the day that she might take the crown and actually make a difference like her father before her. And never once, had she stepped out of line.

Well, there's a first time for everything.

The blonde stomped into her rooms where her mother was waiting for and huffed angrily, before pushing over the nearest chair with her stiletto heel. Elizabeth Forbes looked up from the book she had been reading to see her daughter pacing back and forth and decided it was time to close her book, marking the page as she did. "It didn't go well then?" She asked curiously. "Sit, Caroline, you're making me sea-sick." She insisted.

Caroline obeyed her mother and sat on the chaise lounge, still wide eyed with what Elizabeth Forbes could only describe as fury. Today had been Caroline's first session of parliament since her 21st birthday last week and they had called the princess to a special meeting regarding her coronation that was supposed to be taking place in two months' time. She ran over the conversation in her mind and ran her fingers through her hair.

"_It has come to our attention, princess, that you are illegible to assume the throne." _

"_The Law states that a woman cannot be Queen unless she is married…" _

"_Unless you marry in the next month, you forfeit the crown to the Lockwood family…"_

The memories were so raw and fresh in her embarrassment and humiliation that the princess leaned forward and began to cry. Her mother was instantly up and sitting beside her daughter, wrapping her arm around her little girl and asking her what was wrong so she could help. Caroline knew there was nothing her mother could do to solve this; it could not be fixed with ice cream or a band-aid. "That stupid law! That stupid, sexist law!" She announced. "I can't be Queen unless I marry in the next month or the throne goes to the Lockwoods!" She told her mother, straightening up.

With that angering thought, she was on her feet and pacing again. Elizabeth let her this time, this seemed like pace worthy news. "And Lord Lockwood, I bet that smug bastard has been holding this card to his chest since the moment they lowered Daddy's coffin into the ground! He would do anything to get that son of his on the throne!" She shouted angrily, going to kick over another chair to get out some of her anger. Elizabeth knew her daughter had a temper, but she usually used it to fuel her passion.

Caroline had been 18, just about to go to college to study political science when she received the news that her father had died in an accident. At her mother's insistence, she hadn't deferred for a semester and had gone to college after the funeral and official engagements. Her mother had been ruling as regent since her father's death till Caroline was old enough to assume the throne. Now she was so close, and it had been snatched away from her.

Elizabeth stood up and took her daughter's hands to stop her pacing, catching her chin with one hand to make Caroline look at her. "Then the answer is simple. We will just have to find you a husband." She announced simply, smiling supportively. Caroline didn't smile back.

* * *

Caroline had met Prince Niklaus twice in her life, and only briefly. The first was when she was about 13, being received by his family. They were the royal family of a country that had always been desperate to start an alliance between them and her country, but Caroline's father had never gotten around to it before his death. The prince was five years older than she was, so he was hardly interested in the teenage princess during their first meeting but at their second meeting, she had been 19 compared to his 24. They had shared brief conversations both times, but there hadn't been a lasting impression on the princess.

Now it was 2 years later and she was sitting in the throne room of her family's castle as she did when she was thinking things through. Her father had used to bring her down to this room at night when it was only lit by the moonlight and sat her in his lap on the throne, telling her stories and letting her see how amazing the world could look from this seat. To think that it could be taken from her, Caroline could only grit her teeth and clench her fist angrily.

She had both legs swung over the arm of the old, luxurious chair, both feet covered in slippers and wearing her pyjamas and a dressing gown. Her hair was pulled up in a ponytail and unwashed as she read through the newspaper in her lap. Her mother had presented it to her this morning and insisted that they had their ideal candidate in the prince. Caroline had agreed to meet with him, knowing he wouldn't decline a private audience with the crowned princess.

She sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, reminding herself that this was a business agreement, this was not a marriage. It was a front to please parliament until she could convince them that she could rule solo and divorce her fake husband, and then look for a real husband who she could love and trust.

Whomever she picked to be her pretend husband, she could not love or trust him. It was tit for tat, scratching each other's back and she had found the man who needed what she had to offer him. She couldn't be weak or emotional about it; she had to be cold and calculating to get what she wanted. And what was it that she wanted, she thought to herself as she swung her legs back around to let her slipper covered feet touch the ground, the throne her father had sat on, and his father before him. It was hers, and she would do what she had to do to get it.

* * *

Klaus received notice that he was wanted for an audience with the crowned princess Caroline as soon as possible and took the next flight out. He had been in Italy for the last three weeks, but he could hardly refuse seeing the princess who had asked for a private meeting with him. He arrived at the palace, expecting to see people busy with preparing for the coronation but it was quiet across the hallways as he was led to the throne room.

He'd been in this room before when he was young, but it had been full to the brim of people welcoming his family to the palace and another person was seated on the throne that the young woman perched on now. He watched as the guards led him inside and then left the room, the blonde princess was sat wearing a detailed cream day dress accented with black lace and her blonde hair around her face. She watched him with a look of trepidation as the doors closed behind them.

Being left alone with a crowned princess two months before her coronation after an urgent message had been sent to him for an audience, how curious it was to the young Prince as he dipped into a bow and greeted the princess. "Your Highness. You know in my country, it's bad luck to sit on the throne before you're crowned." He may be a wafe and stray, but he knew how to respect a woman about to become Queen. Caroline didn't respond to his interesting factoid about her seating arrangement. Instead she told him to rise from his bow, the first time she'd spoken and she sounded terse. "The urgent message, the all expenses paid flight, the privacy, I must say I'm sufficiently intrigued." Klaus announced once he'd straightened up.

"Allow me to enlighten you then." She smiled, but it wasn't exactly what Klaus would call warm. The princess rose from the throne and stepped down the small step of stairs that led to the elevated platform where the thrones sat, walking expertly in her heels and beginning over to an old looking table that was set up with two chairs on either side, a bottle of wine and two glasses. Klaus cocked an eyebrow. "Are you particularly au fait with the laws of my country?"

"Probably less so than you, I'm afraid." Klaus quipped. Caroline suppressed a smirk.

"There is a law, about 250 years old now, that states that a female heir cannot assume the throne unless she is married. It was put in place by a King that wanted to stop his niece, a Catholic, from seizing power as he had no air. He married her off to a man that was loyal to his ways instead. The law stayed afterwards and there hasn't been a female heir apparent since until I was born." She explained as she poured a glass of white wine, probably because red would ruin her dress if she split it. Klaus arched an eyebrow, he'd certainly never heard of this law but it only took seconds to work out the implications for the woman in front of him. "If I am not married in the next month, I forfeit the throne to the next in line. As my father was an only child as am I, and I have no living relatives of royal blood, the second in line is Lord Lockwood. Wine?" She spoke tersely.

"No, thank you." Klaus replied, beginning over to the table slowly. "What does this have to do with me? I doubt I could do much more than you could to have this law over turned in a month." He asked her curiously.

"I've already appealed for the law to be overturned, but despite some members of parliament agreeing with me about the law being outdated and wrong, Lockwood held the majority. The law stays and I have 28 days to be wed." She explained, taking a delicate sip of wine before speaking again. "That is where you come in." She told him in a matter of fact tone that had Klaus pinning back his ears and narrowing his eyes as he tried to decode the blonde's meaning behind the sentence.

"Where exactly do I come in?"

"I'm asking you to marry me for a year." She told him simply, putting the wine glass aside even though it was nearly empty. Klaus' jaw dropped but he quickly shut it. Caroline wasn't looking at him as he stood, flabbergasted by her sudden proposal of marriage. She was sorting through some papers on the side. "There will be an official contract detailing the responsibilities and rights of both parties, of course and compensation for your time but it would simply be that you marry me for a year and at the end of the year, we divorce and go our separate ways." She explained.

"I haven't even agreed to this yet, and you're talking about it like it's a done deal." Klaus snapped.

Caroline looked up at him with a smirk, it was almost calculating as she found what looked like an old newspaper in the pile of papers. She unfolded it and put it on the table triumphantly. "I don't think you'll be in a position to turn me down once I've told you what I'm offering. I'm offering you a shovel to dig your way out of the hole you've landed yourself in." She told him as Klaus approached the table so he could read the headline.

**PRINCE NIKLAUS FACES DISINHERITANCE: ROYAL SCANDAL CONTINUES**

He stiffened at the picture under the tabloid headline, the one that had unravelled his life. It was on the balcony of his room back at the palace he'd grown up in and as grainy as the picture was, you could clearly make out the prince pressing a brunette haired woman against a wall and kissing her deeply. The brunette in question was his brother's wife, Tatia but that didn't seem to bother the prince in the picture as their lips were locked together.

Klaus' eyes snapped up at the princess, his eyes full of hate. "If an article where your sister in law publically states that you tried to force yourself on her wasn't bad enough to cause a scandal, you didn't exactly help matters by going on a bender that would kill any man's reputation." She commented, picking up another piece of paper and beginning to read off it. "Hospitalised in Rio twice, jailed in Paris, deported from Switzerland within two days of arriving, hospitalised again in Morocco, two bar fights in London and jailed once more in Rome."

"Thank you for paying my bail, by the way." He added with spiteful tone.

"What are fiancées for?" She added in an overly sweet tone, pressing the sheet into the table and picking up her glass to take another triumphant sip. Klaus shifted uncomfortably and adjusted his tie, beginning to feel the heat of this conversation as the princess sat down in a chair. For a second, her dress' hem peeked up high enough to catch glimpse of her stockings but Klaus didn't even register the revealing look at the princess' milky thighs. "Are you ready to hear my proposal in full or do I need to pull up your mug shot? Not very attractive for a man of your looks, I must say. The black eye didn't help either." She asked him curiously, tapping her nails on the table.

"I'll take that glass of wine first." Klaus told her, taking a seat opposite her. She smiled sweetly once more and poured him a glass.

"Your family has been dying for an alliance with mine for years now; I'm sure they will be more than responsive if their son manages to marry the Queen and become Prince Consort as well as manage a treaty between the two countries by himself. That will show them that you've turned yourself around." She explained as she took another sip of her wine and arched an eyebrow. "The treaty would continue even after we divorce, you'll be providing long lasting aid for your country and when we do end the marriage, you'll be awarded two titles of nobility and an establishment in my country as compensation, unless you decide to return home."

Klaus tapped his fingers against the table for a few seconds and took a long sip of the white wine even though it stung his throat. God, he hated the taste of white wine. He much preferred red wine to other types. It was a tempting offer; that was for sure. "What would the terms of the marriage be exactly?"

"Well, it would be one year of legal marriage to me, you'll be expected to act and behave like a Prince Consort, attend any engagements or state visits with me and maintain the appearance of an actual marriage for the sake of the public. Parliament knows that this marriage is arranged but they will expect us to act like we fell in love overnight. However, the marriage will remain unconsummated; you can have a mistress providing you're discreet. I don't want a sex scandal in my first year as Queen." She explained. Klaus looked the blonde up and down as she took another sip. She was a physically attractive woman, but he couldn't imagine sleeping with her after she'd manipulated a marriage out of him for her power.

"I am more than capable of being discreet." He assured her. Caroline's eyes spoke a thousand words of disbelief as they went from his to the newspaper on the side. Instead of speaking, she simply continued like the diplomat she was trained to be.

"You'll be living in your own rooms but they adjoin mine. You'll have access to all the privileges and perks of a Prince Consort for the year, and when the year is up, you'll be compensated with a dukedom and an earldom. During our marriage, you'll automatically be a member of parliament but that privilege will be revoked upon our divorce." Caroline spoke with finality, so Klaus assumed that was the end of the terms of their agreement she had obviously spent a long while mulling over. Had she proposed to other people before him and they had declined or was he her first choice because he needed to get back into his family's good graces?

Klaus took another deep sip of the white wine. Right now, he hated this princess' guts, he wasn't sure if he could pretend that he was in love with her, no matter how well his acting skills were fine-tuned from years in the public eye. Could they make a convincing marriage? "You've clearly given this much thought." He told her, eyeing the pile of papers that were clearly about him next to her.

"I like to know my opponent beforehand." She told him simply.

"An opponent? That's an odd term of endearment for a husband." He smirked. Caroline didn't smirk, she simply drank another sip of wine to finish the glass off and put it down. She stood up and her heels clipped against the marble as she began to walk away from the table, her hands clasped in front of him as Klaus sipped his own wine. "I want to add some of my own terms." He announced after a few seconds' silence. Caroline turned to face him.

"I'm open to negotiations."

"For starters, I want some red wine available. I don't want my family present at our "wedding", not any of them. And none of them find out that this is a fake marriage, or that it's linked to their alliance with this country. The less they know the better. And I'm not going to be some little puppy dog that you can call to your side whenever you feel like it, I get equal say in anything in this marriage." Klaus couldn't figure out why but he didn't want his family finding out this marriage was a business transaction sham, that he'd been manipulated into it by his want to earn back their respect. Caroline crossed her arms across her chest.

"Nothing political, that's my area, I have to prove I can rule by myself or this whole thing is a red herring." She insisted, tapping her foot as she thought. "But all of those terms seem acceptable; there will be official paperwork, of course." She spoke almost to herself.

"Then we have an accord?" Klaus asked, walking over to his now fiancée and offering his hand out to the princess to shake it. After a few seconds, she put her hand into his and they shook on it. "Then I guess that means that we're engaged. Shall we seal it with a kiss?" He teased lightly, trying to defuse the high tension of their negotiations. Caroline scoffed and her hand was gone from his as she began out of the hall.

"Save it for the wedding, I'll make arrangements for your rooms to be set up next to mine and have someone see to the paperwork. I'll expect to see you at dinner tonight as well, and the announcement will go out next week once we've agreed all the terms." She called over her shoulder, pausing once to turn back to him and smiling genuinely for the first time. "Thank you, Niklaus." She told him before starting towards the doors once more.

"Call me Klaus." He called to her. She paused once more but didn't turn back, it was a brief moment before she opened the double doors and began into the hallway, leaving Klaus alone.

* * *

The next day, the pair sat down with a lawyer who was legally gagged and sworn to confidentiality and worked out the full terms and conditions of their marriage, which took some hours. Eventually it was signed and dealt with. Klaus signed his name down and set the pen down. "Did I buy you a ring?" He asked her curiously, as Caroline signed the papers herself. She nodded and made a noise of agreement, her eyes focused on the task at hand. "And I assume there's going to be a story we tell the press about why we're getting engaged and married in the same month." He told her.

"Over in that cabinet, it was my grandmother's. You asked my mother for it when you asked for my hand." She told him, nodding to the cabinet. He nodded as she turned the page and signed her name once more before putting her own pen down and looking up at Klaus. "We're going to say that we've been planning to get married for some time, but were simply waiting for me to be of proper marrying age for a crowned princess. I'm sure that my PR team will figure out some way of threading your debacle with Princess Tatia and the bender that followed into it."

"And you think people will buy that?" He asked.

"They convinced people that my mother and father were true love, didn't they? They'll do the same for us." She asked as she stood up and went to the cabinet that she'd pointed out earlier in their conversation. Caroline opened it and brought out the ring box Klaus could only assume had her engagement ring in, opening it and setting it on the ring. It was a princess cut diamond ring with rubies set either side, a beautiful piece regardless. She sighed heavily and pulled it from the velvet case to slip it on her engagement finger.

Klaus could see this was not what the princess wanted out of her first marriage, but it was part of being royalty. She had to sacrifice her fairy tale love for her power, and she chose power. That's all this was, she wanted to be Queen and she would do anything to get it. He wouldn't pity her.

* * *

After that, it was all a whirlwind of press conferences and wedding preparations. Caroline loved the wedding planning aspect, as well as the coronation that she was going to be having a month after her wedding. She had always loved to plan events for her family when people came to visit, her mother let her have full reign sometimes as she grew up. The first time she'd organised a ball by herself she'd been 16 and stressed as hell by the time it was over. Planning a royal wedding was only slightly more stressful and her mother was there every second of the way.

"Can I do this?" Caroline asked her mother one day as she taste tested cakes. Klaus had stated outright that he didn't care for wedding planning. He would deal with press if necessary but he didn't give a damn what she had planned for their sham wedding. Caroline was nice enough to make sure that he wasn't allergic to anything on the menu and made sure his family wasn't invited to the wedding or the reception but that was the extent of Klaus' involvement.

"It's only a year, Caroline," Liz reminded her, chucking her chin between bites of chocolate cake.

"A year is a long time, Mama."

"But a lot shorter than 25 years, sweetheart," Liz' words were full of bitterness. Caroline's parents had been an arranged marriage, Liz had been the daughter of a Duke who wanted a Queen for a daughter and he had armies and resources that could support Caroline's grandfather during the war at the time so she'd been arranged to marry Caroline's father. She'd made no fairy tale out of her marriage to her daughter; she'd made it clear that they were never in love. They were fond of each other but Caroline didn't want fondness. She didn't know him very well but so far, she wasn't particularly fond of Klaus. "You do this for a year, you divorce him and then you can find a husband you actually want to keep around." She insisted, smiling supportively again.

Caroline nodded, but again she didn't smile.

* * *

The wedding went by in a flash of cameras and screaming crowds that neither Klaus nor Caroline had time to take it in. Caroline wore the white gown and the veil and Klaus wore the fancy suit and a smile when he saw her enter the church. He couldn't say that the smile was completely fake as she was a complete vision, an angel but after taking a second to remind himself why he was here getting married today, the smile became fake again. They said their vows, exchanged rings and he lifted the veil over her face and pressed his lips to hers in the most convincing kiss they could manage.

The reception was wonderful and Klaus couldn't help but congratulate Caroline on her ability to pull this together in a month. The food was divine and the company wasn't exactly awful. He managed to actually enjoy himself as the couple were separated and mingled with the crowds, most of whom Klaus had never met. That was okay, he was very easy with conversational small talk. It was when the master of ceremonies announced the first dance that his enjoyment stopped. He found his wife and led her out onto the dance floor, if he could even call her that, maybe business partner was more appropriate.

They started out dancing a traditional dance position, Caroline's hand resting on his shoulder as he held her waist. Their hands clasped together as they began to dance. "How do you think we're doing so far?" She asked him curiously, as they danced. She looked around the room and then back at her husband with a small glint in her eye. She was obviously enjoying herself regardless of the validity of their marriage. Klaus absentmindedly wondered whether this was how she pictured her wedding, her real wedding or this was an imagined substitute and she was saving her dream wedding for her second husband.

"I think we're doing okay, just don't step on my foot." He commented.

A second later, Caroline's foot dug into his shoe. He hissed and looked down at his feet, the crowd watching burst into laughter. Caroline giggled and apologised, but it was all a show. He pulled her closer and this time, he wrapped her arms around his neck and put both hands on her waist. "I'll get you back for that." He muttered into her hair, making it look like he was whispering a sweet nothing into her ear as another camera flashed.

"Bring it on." She whispered back.

* * *

The royal couple shared an apartment in the palace, a shared living spare where they entertained guests in more private and intimate settings than the throne room or the banquet hall with two doors, which led to their individual rooms. Caroline had never seen Klaus' and Klaus had never seen Caroline's. They only ever saw each other in their living room, which had some couches and a chaise set up with a coffee table and TV, as well as a dining table where they ate their meals. Sometimes together, sometimes apart.

The first few months were frosty to say the least. Caroline focused and withdrew to focus on her coronation so she could get that long wanted crown on her head. Klaus settled into his new position as a Member of Parliament and building relationships within that boys' clubs of men who had made this marriage necessary. He wanted to have some power and if Caroline wouldn't give it to him, then he would make a lasting impression on the politicians.

He smiled at the coronation, enjoying the sour look on Lord Lockwood's face as Caroline was crowned Queen and toasted the Queen at the banquet. Another kiss to keep the public satisfied and then the moment they were alone together, they became cold again. Caroline had changed out of her heavy coronation gown for the banquet and was now wearing a form fitting ball gown. Klaus loosened his tie as his wife took the pins from her hair; she never asked for maids to stay after seven in the evening and began to change.

Klaus was slightly taken aback when she began to unzip her ball gown whilst still in their living room even though she was beginning into her bedroom but he still caught a glimpse of her bare, braless back and the top of the lace panties she wore before she shut the door. He swallowed thickly and went to the liquor cabinet that was always fully stocked to get a drink. Fuck, was he lusting after his wife? That was never good news.

After the coronation, Caroline threw herself into showing that she was a good ruler without her husband and Klaus often found her surrounded by paperwork and reports and asking not to be disturbed. That was fine by him; days would go by without them saying more than ten words to each other when not in public and Klaus liked it that way. When they weren't speaking, he couldn't start to like her and enjoy her company.

* * *

Caroline came to their rooms one evening and shed her heels, shuddering as she shook her hair out from its style. It was cold and she'd had a long day. She began over to the cabinet to get a glass of wine and suddenly her hearing tuned into a noise she'd dismissed as background noise during her entrance to the rooms. A moaning, and not a ghostly moaning, she wouldn't have cared about that one bit. This was a pleasured, satisfied moaning, a female voice. Every few seconds, there was a groan that was unmistakably male.

The Queen swallowed thickly as she poured her wine and took a long sip in an attempt to distract herself from the fact that Klaus clearly had company. She shouldn't be jealous, why should she be jealous? They had an arrangement; Klaus could fuck whoever he wanted as long as he was discreet bout it. She had no reason to be mad at him.

She closed her eyes and tried to block out the rest of their session together, focus on the fruity taste of the wine and feel of her nails digging into her palms. Caroline wanted to go into her room and shut the door, but she had to know the face of the girl that Klaus had brought to bed. She needed to see the girl that he was using to satisfy his desires, and who knew him more intimately than she did despite the fact that Caroline was married to him and she was not.

The door opened a few minutes later to reveal a tall, slender black haired woman Caroline didn't recognise, already fully dressed. She looked like a deer in the headlights when she saw the Queen standing there with a tight grip on her wine glass, and ducked her head as she bounded from the room like a frightened rabbit. Caroline closed her eyes and finished off the glass, the cruel sting of jealously sinking its teeth into her as she did.

Klaus emerged in suit pants, leaning in the doorway as Caroline refilled her glass of wine. "Good evening." He greeted her coldly.

"Good evening." She replied before going to her own room and only barely stopping herself from slamming the door.

* * *

They were out at a charity ball in the palace when Caroline mentioned that her mother's family were coming to visit. "They do this every year, it's a tradition. My grandfather died last year, but my grandmother is going to hound you for days about our marriage and how it is going. She'll have brought into the idea that this is a real marriage." She muttered as they sipped champagne, making sure that they couldn't be heard. Klaus nodded.

"Anything else I should know?"

"My uncle will invite you to smoke cigars with you and drink scotch in the men's room. Don't decline if you know what's good for you. He was in the army." She told him as she waved at a passing Baroness and smiled sweetly. Her show face, Klaus noticed as he took a sip of champagne. "But at least I don't have any young female family members so you can't force your tongue down their throat." She added coldly, her eyes scanning the room.

Klaus went stone cold sober when she spoke, didn't even think it through before he put the champagne glass on a passing waiter's tray and began out of the ball room. Caroline turned back to see her husband leaving the room and furrowed her brow, about to go follow him but found her path blocked by Lord Lockwood. "Trouble in paradise, Your Majesty?" He asked with an arched brow and a smirk. The young Queen instantly fixed her face to her smile.

"Not at all, Lord Lockwood," She smiled sweetly. "How is Lady Lockwood?"

* * *

She found him standing on a balcony later, and she was in full bitch mode. "What the hell was that? You just left without saying a word!" She whispered angrily at him as she shut the doors behind her. The Prince was standing by the metal railing and watching the stars above them, as if he hadn't even heard her. He now had a glass of scotch in his hand and was swirling it absentmindedly.

"It was none of your concern why I left, and for all your research on me, you don't know the first thing about what happened with Tatia, so keep your mouth shut." He told her firmly, turning on her with an icy glare. She felt a cold shudder run down her spine and swallowed thickly, clutching the champagne glass in her hand a little tighter. "Don't presume to know me." He warned her. Klaus turned back to the stars, seemingly dismissing the blonde from his consciousness.

"What happened with Tatia?" She asked.

"I just said that it's not of your concern," He reminded her icily. Caroline sighed heavily and finished off her champagne glass. This wasn't working, they couldn't pretend that they loved each other in company and be sworn enemies in private. People would begin to see through it, they would begin to pry and then it would be game over. They had to reach a common ground, Caroline thought as a cold wind blew and she shivered. Klaus looked over at her and sighed heavily, putting his glass on the railing and beginning to shed his jacket. He lifted it onto her shoulders.

"Thank you." She breathed, moving to stand next to him. "You know, when I was a girl, all my tutors and my parents wanted me to focus on diplomacy or politics, but my favourite lesson was astronomy. I loved to look at the stars and learn the constellations, but I loved to wonder about what was out there. This isn't the best place to see them, that's from the guard post on the roof. But the stars always make me and my problems feel so small." Caroline told him.

"Why are you telling me this?" Klaus commented, picking up his glass and taking a drink.

"Because that's how people become friends. They share information about each other until they find common interests and bond over it." She told him sarcastically, putting her glass aside. Klaus looked at her like she was insane. She wanted to be friends? Klaus thought with a snort. "Say what you like, but it can't hurt for us to actually get to know each other and be friends." She suggested.

"I'm not going to tell you about Tatia." He decided. That must be her game, he thought.

"I know, you seem to have that one close to your chest but I think we should stop trying to hate each other and start at least being civil." She told him, putting her hands on the railings and craning her neck back as she looked at the night sky. It was a clear night so all the stars were visible. Klaus looked over to see his wife's eyes full of wonder as she observed each little dot on the blue night sky and couldn't help but smile the smallest of smiles.

"You might be onto something there." He replied.

* * *

After agreeing to be friends, they became more and more comfortable with each other. They actually began to have conversations in private and got to know each other. They kept real things to themselves, but only intrigued each other. Like the way Klaus clammed up whenever Caroline mentioned his family or Tatia was a mystery to her and the way she became uncomfortable when Klaus referred to their agreement, as an arrangement did not go unnoticed by her husband. However, they were only in this for another five months, they could live in suspense.

Klaus became Caroline's relay of information of the goings on in parliament, what the members and Lords had to say about what she was doing and how well she was faring. She enjoyed the extra information but easily became worked up over it. "These bastards only care about their own pocket; they don't consider the people out there!" She ranted one evening after Klaus told her that the Lords were angry about her proposal for a new benefits system to feed the hungry, insisting the one they had was good enough. "I swear I could strangle some of them!" She nearly shouted.

The more he watched her work, the more information he fed to her, the more Klaus realised that Caroline actually didn't care about the power that came with being Queen unless she could use it to help others, the common people. She actually wanted to do something good, and she was on the verge of being denied that chance every minute of the day should the parliament decide she couldn't rule by herself when she and Klaus divorced.

Klaus stood and took Caroline's shoulders, telling her to breath. "I'm calm, I'm calm." She insisted after a few seconds, closing her eyes.

"Good." He smiled.

* * *

"Here's another article about me being pregnant." Caroline commented as Klaus read one evening as Caroline did her work at the dining table. They had been sitting there in silence for the last hour or so when she'd taken a break to read the paper. He looked up and saw her handing him a tabloid and sure enough there was a two page exclusive on the Queen being pregnant, including sources from within the palace itself. Made up sources, obviously, Klaus thought to himself as he scanned over the article. Caroline went back to her paperwork, reading glasses on her nose. "I swear they're all obsessed with how quickly I can get pregnant." She grumbled to herself.

"Must be, I mean I'm good, but I'm not that good." He joked, putting the magazine down and going back to his reading. Caroline rolled her eyes but smiled all the same. Obviously, the world didn't know that they weren't having sex at all, at least not with each other. Klaus had no idea whether Caroline was fooling around with anyone on the side, but he'd taken advantage of their open marriage once or twice in the last seven months since they'd been married.

"I'll take you at your word for it." She commented, and like that, they fell back into comfortable silence again.

* * *

Jealously is a cruel an unforgiving mistress, Klaus thought to himself when he saw Caroline dancing with a Duke that was visiting for Independence Day celebrations. She looked stunning as always and Klaus couldn't help but feel envious of the real smile she had when she was dancing with the man who had her in his arms. Klaus hadn't been listening when Caroline told him who was visiting but he was sure his name was Enzo, or something.

No, he couldn't be jealous of this guy. He wasn't supposed to be jealous. This was a partnership, an agreement, nothing more. He wasn't going to let his feelings come into it. He'd shut down his emotions a long time ago, he only saw the benefits and costs of each situation. Now, this blonde was awakening those feelings he'd buried the moment he'd seen that headline and that picture of him and Tatia that had broken his relationship with his family.

She stumbled, probably due to too much champagne, and giggled furiously as the Duke helped her up and Klaus saw his chance to swoop in. "I've got it from here, she probably needs to go lie down." Klaus told Enzo, taking Caroline's elbow and wrapping an arm around her waist. Caroline smiled and nodded, waving at the gentleman as Klaus led her away from the ballroom. Once they were in the quiet hallway, she stumbled once more and this time, Klaus swung her up into his arms to carry her to their rooms.

* * *

Caroline fidgeted as she knocked on Klaus' door one morning, there was an audible groan behind the door and she wondered momentarily whether he had company. However, when the door swung open a moment later, Klaus was alone in the room. He wore sweats and leaned in the doorway, asking her what was wrong. She twiddled her engagement and wedding rings as she began to speak, not sure why she was so nervous. "Your parents have invited us to visit." She told him. "And I have to say yes."

"What do you mean, 'have to'?" He asked her dumbfounded.

"Its tradition when someone marries into the royal family to visit their family before the first year of marriage is up." She told him, beginning to pace around the living room as Klaus watched her in disbelief. He hadn't spoken to any of his family for a year now. They'd sent a gift to celebrate the wedding but that had been the end of communication between him and his family. They hadn't forgiven him. Caroline continued. "I know I should have thought of it when you said you didn't want to see them, but I completely forgot! And now Lord Lockwood is breathing down my neck about it. So we kind of have to go visit them, it'll only be a week, tops and that's it!" She insisted.

"There's no way out of it?" He asked.

"I've thought about it and no." She replied, sighing heavily. "I'm sorry, I really am. I know you don't want to see them, but please, I'm asking you to." Caroline was standing in front of her husband, begging him to do this for her, face the most awkward situation of his life thus far because she needed to look good. She looked hopeful, but her heart was full of dread that he would decline, remind them that his family being involved was not part of their deal and slam the door in her face and she would be left to pick up the pieces.

"Okay, we'll go see them." He assured her. Caroline's eyes went wide and she smiled brightly. "A week, tops." He warned her as an afterthought.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" She couldn't help burst out with her thanks and rushing forward to hug him. Klaus was visibly taken aback by her show of thanks, lifting his arms slightly to show his shock. They barely touched in private, and everything they did in public, hugs and kisses and smiles, were a show. They meant nothing. This meant something to them both. He slowly lowered his arms around her waist and gave her a tiny squeeze. Without thinking, she tucked her head onto his shoulder. "This means the world to me." She assured him, pulling away but still smiling.

"Don't mention it." He replied, smiling himself.

* * *

"I've been thinking." Klaus decided to start this conversation when they were already in the air, on the plane to his home country so Caroline couldn't escape or be pulled away by advisors, politicians, or what not. She looked up from the paperwork she'd been working on and raised her eyebrows curiously. "I know we have another two months, but I don't think parliament will rule to have you remain as Queen if we divorce after a year." He explained, tapping his fingertips against the leather of the seat he was sat in.

"What makes you say that?" She asked.

"I hear things." He'd heard nothing in reality. Klaus had been thinking about extending the marriage longer for a while now, he couldn't pinpoint the exact moment. Caroline wouldn't ask for names and quotes, she trusted him. He was sure at least one Member of Parliament would vote against her when she decided to divorce Klaus and Lord Lockwood sprung forth, ruling that she was unfit to rule, so where was the lie really?

"What are you suggesting?" She asked seriously, not playing lightly with the idea that she might get knocked off the throne if she didn't listen to him. Klaus shrugged lightly.

"Extend the marriage." He replied as if the idea had been pulled off the top of her head. The blonde went wide-eyed for a moment but fixed her face quickly. She capped her pen and put it aside. She was wearing a gorgeous blue day dress and had kicked off her heels for the plane ride; her hair was around her face as it always was. She looked thoughtful so Klaus continued to speak. "Another year will definitely secure you as Queen, and it won't matter if you're getting divorced. Plus it'll look kind of suspicious to the public if we go from completely love struck to divorcing in two months." He explained.

"And you would be okay with that, being married another year? You wouldn't want anything from it?" She asked sceptically. Klaus shook his head; he honestly didn't want anything from her. He wanted to see her succeed. Caroline ran her fingers through her hair and sighed heavily, looking out the window. Klaus leaned back in his seat, sun filtering in through the windows of the private jet. "Can I think about it?" She asked him after a few seconds.

"Of course, take all the time you need." He told her as the captain began to announce their landing and the seat belt sign switched on. And like that, Klaus' thoughts from extending his contract with the blonde to seeing his family again after a year and dread filled his heart.


	2. Part 2

**Here we are! Part 2, thank you for all for the amazing response I got to the first part and I hope you all enjoyed the second part. **

**Don't forget to leave a review and enjoy!**

* * *

The papers jumped on the royal couple from the moment they arrived, enjoying the modern day royal love story aspect of their marriage, an angle the palace's PR department had played up to the max. Caroline and Klaus were led from the airfield and hurried into a limo to take them from the airport. Klaus watched sadly as people lined the streets to welcome their prince and his new wife home and Caroline watched him with pity eating her heart out. Caroline could tell that Klaus obviously loved his people and his country and the idea that he had let them down hurt him but he still went tense as they approached the palace he'd grown up in.

Caroline and Klaus didn't meet the family when they were arrived instead they were directed to their room for the visit. They were told that as tradition dictated, there was a fancy ball to celebrate Caroline and Klaus' arrival for their three day visit where they would be officially presented to the Mikaelson royal family. Caroline and Klaus had lunch with some politicians and then went to go get ready. Caroline wore the most beautiful black and white gown that made her look like the force to be reckoned with that she was; she wasn't a timid little princess that visited years ago anymore.

However Caroline couldn't help but notice that Klaus' grip on her hand was a little tight as he led her into the ballroom, as if he needed the comfort of her hand in his. Their names were called and there was an introduction from the band, but Caroline didn't particularly notice. She squeezed her husband's hand and his eyes were drawn to hers. "Are you okay?" She asked him.

He opened his mouth to speak, but they were quickly interrupted by Klaus' younger brother. "Nik, finally come back to see us!" Caroline was taken aback by the way that Kol, at least she guessed it was Kol from what Klaus had told her on the plane, jumped into their conversation and clapped a hand onto his brother's shoulder. Klaus forced a smile as Kol took Caroline's hand and kissed the back. "Your Majesty, allow me to introduce myself, Kol Mikaelson. And don't worry, if he forced you into marrying him then blink twice." He introduced himself.

Both Klaus and Caroline wanted to laugh at the irony. "That won't be necessary, Kol, I assure you." Caroline assured him with a smile as Kol plucked two champagne glasses off a nearby waiter's tray and handed one to Caroline. Klaus ignored the snub and took a glass for his own as his little brother continued to chat up his wife without shame. Klaus moved his spare hand to the small of Caroline's back, drowning Kol's voice out by focusing on the sound of Caroline's laughter.

"So, when do I get to see the rest of the family? We did fly all the way over, after all." Caroline asked after a few minutes past, bringing Klaus back into the conversation.

"Well, mother and father like to make an entrance, my younger brother isn't allowed to attend and Rebekah and her adorable little family won't be here until tomorrow. Elijah and Tatia should be making an appearance soon and we can enjoy the discomfort between them and my big brother." He told Caroline as Klaus took another deep sip of the champagne. Caroline eyed her husband and his discomfort but Kol continued on, already sauced by the looks and sounds of it. "I cannot express what a treat you are in for, Caroline, what a scandal!" He announced.

Klaus finished off his champagne and turned to Caroline, telling her that he was going to the bar to get something stronger. He then pressed a kiss into her temple and began into the crowd towards the bar at the back of the room. The kiss was a surprise to Caroline and she stared after Klaus, confused and pitying. She then turned back to her brother-in-law. "Well, I'm sure that it's all in the past now. It has been a year after all." Caroline commented, taking a dainty sip of champagne.

* * *

Tatia was exactly how she looked in the pictures, dressed to the nines as only a royal could but not with nearly the amount of class and grace that someone born into royalty could pull off. Caroline was standing with Klaus when they were announced into the room, she swallowed thickly and put her hand over Klaus' where it sat on the table they had been sat at. He was swirling a scotch and pretended not to hear the chatter that took over the hall as the Crown Prince and his wife came in.

"Don't let them get to you." She insisted, looking him in the eye. "You're a Prince Consort of a kingdom and a country much greater than this one, you don't bow to anyone." Caroline assured him, squeezing his hand. He smiled.

"Except you?" He guessed.

"Except me, you're right." She replied with a nod and a genuine smile as the chatter turned to gossip and whispers. Elijah and his wife began over to the Queen and the Prince, who both stood from their table. Elijah Mikaelson was taller than she'd imagined and looked much more like Klaus in real life. She'd met him before when she'd been presented as a princess to this court, but that had been years ago. He regarded his brother once before turning to the Queen, taking her hand and kissing the back to introduce himself. "Pleasure to meet you again, I'm sure." Caroline told him.

"And this is my wife, Tatia." Elijah hadn't spoken to his brother at this point as the women icily greeted each other. Caroline didn't know when she'd started being on Klaus' side about the fact he'd stuck his tongue down his sister-in-law's throat two days before she married his brother but she didn't like the girl in front of her already. She knew Klaus wasn't telling her something about his mistake from the past. "We were very surprised to hear of your engagement and marriage."

"And that we weren't invited to the wedding." Tatia spoke up and Caroline plastered on her fake smile as Klaus put his hand back on the small of her back and pulled her close till she was almost pinned to his side. Caroline sipped her champagne and tried to remember how many she'd had since her conversation with Kol.

"It was all just so sudden." Caroline insisted.

"Very sudden, indeed. So much to do and plan, I'm sure the pair of you understands how hectic planning a royal wedding is." Klaus agreed, putting on his own smile as the eyes of the ballroom tried to side-eye and catch a glimpse of the conversation between the two couples. His grip on her waist was tight, like he was holding something back as he caught Tatia's eye for a second. Klaus obviously wanted to save face and not tell his family that he didn't want them at their wedding, or that the marriage wasn't real.

"I'm confused, exactly how did you two meet?" Tatia asked. She was from another country, with a slight accent to her sultry voice. The smirk on her face made it clear that she was expecting them to trip up. Caroline and Klaus eyed each other, not sure what to say and also confused as to why they had never come up with a first meeting story for their marriage. Caroline thanked her years of reading romance novels, coupled with the hard real world of politics and began to spin a delicate web to catch Tatia off guard.

"We met at this summer fete they have at the palace every year, Klaus was just about to leave for Rome and I invited him to join us. There's this traditional capture the flag game in the palace woods, the girls and the boys go against each other and try and capture their opponent's flag before the other team can. Usually the children play and they use water balloons but last year, a lot of the adults decided to join in and Klaus joined so there were even numbers." She explained, smiling brightly at their imagined first meeting.

She opened her mouth to continue but Klaus cut in before she could speak, continuing the lie flawlessly. "Well, Caroline was about to capture the other team's flag when she tripped on a tree root and twisted her ankle. She clearly thought that I would simply pelt her with water balloons and leave her to stumble back to the palace, but instead I picked her up and carried her to the infirmary." He smiled, looking at his wife who blushed.

"But not before, he let me grab the flag and save myself the embarrassment of losing the game for the girls." Caroline chipped in. "He was a perfect gentleman." She insisted.

"Gentleman is not the word I would use to describe Niklaus." Tatia retorted, taking a sip of her drink.

"And we both know that there's a whole dictionary worth of words I could use to describe you, dear Tatia." Klaus replied coolly. The brunette looked insulted and baffled at the same time. Caroline hid her smirk behind her glass as she took another sip. "And I do speak five languages, after all." He added, smirking as he did. Elijah looked half amused, half insulted himself but Tatia looked like she'd just been smacked right around the face. There was a flicker of a new emotion on the brunette's face that Caroline couldn't name.

Before the princess could open her mouth to speak, the announcement of the King and Queen began through the ballroom. Klaus moved his hands to catch Caroline's and lifted it up. "Allow me to escort you, Your Majesty." He smirked, winking. She chuckled and looped her arm around his as they began away from the couple. The moment they were out of earshot, the two smirked and suppressed laughter. "Quick thinking back there, I must say." Klaus complimented her as they continued through the crowds to where his parents were entering the room.

"You weren't so bad yourself." She added with a smile.

* * *

Caroline was sat at the head table with her husband and his parents, between courses of the wonderful meal that the royal kitchens had prepared in honour of her visit. She took a sip of red wine and her eyes caught Tatia and Elijah sitting at another table. "Do you ever eat with your children?" Caroline asked the King and Queen she called her in laws. Whenever her family had had events, Caroline had always sat with her parents at the head tables. In comparison, the Mikaelson children were dotted around the room and far from their parents. Even Elijah, the heir apparent hadn't been allowed to eat with his parents.

"It's not a regular occurrence." Was Mikael's response between sips of wine. The red wine was a speciality of Klaus' country and was blood red. Caroline had been shocked by the colour, convinced Klaus' description of the vintage had been exaggerations. The idea that this family didn't even have the comfort of family dinners and that made Caroline smile sadly.

Klaus and his father had barely spoken a word to each other since they'd been presented, except to greet each other icily, but the King had plenty to say to Caroline. Most of it was business. Esther had cut in quickly and insisted that they leave politics out of their reunion with their son and first meeting with their new daughter in law, which left the four of them with little to talk about. She felt Klaus take her hand from her lap and squeeze it.

Her smile instantly became warm and happy again as he brought her knuckles to his lips. "Do you want to dance?" He asked her gently, sensing she wanted to be away from her new extended family and their judging looks. Caroline smiled and nodded, letting her husband pull her from the seat and towards the dance floor where couples were dancing between courses. He pulled her close and put his hand on the small of her back, their chests pressed together as they danced, a huge contrast to their first dance as a couple.

"Tatia's staring at us again." Caroline muttered softly into his ear, her hand coming to cup the back of the nape of his neck and threading her fingers into the curls she found there. She briefly met the Princess' eyes over Klaus' shoulders but Tatia looked away a second later.

"Let her stare, love." He muttered back. Caroline pulled back and caught his eye, smiling as they continued to move about the floor. She had been used to eyes being on her all her life, that was part of being a princess and a queen, but the way that Tatia watched the couple filled Caroline with an wave of emotion that was one part jealously and one part blinding curiosity. Caroline turned back from Tatia when she felt Klaus' lips against her temple and she smiled softly to herself.

* * *

That night, she snapped. She couldn't take it anymore. She had to know.

"Tell me about Tatia." Caroline asked Klaus as they sat in their suite that night, she began to brush out her hair and looked over at the king sized bed they would be sharing. Well, why would they provide separate beds for a happily married couple? In the ten months since they'd been married, Klaus and Caroline had never shared a bed, not in the biblical or literal sense. Klaus was sat on the bed undoing his bowtie and raised his eyebrows.

"I thought I told you not to ask me." He replied.

"Well, I'm asking. I knew that there was something about Tatia that you weren't telling me but I didn't know what it was until I saw you look at her. You didn't look at her like you felt guilty, you didn't look at her like you were sorry, you looked…sad." Caroline explained as she put down her brush and turned around on the stool to look at him. Klaus paused in his movements and swallowed thickly, his Adam's apple bobbing as he did. "She looked like she was guilty and sorry for just a second, but mostly she looked like an unforgiving bitch."

Klaus sighed and nodded. "Tatia and I were fooling around with each other from the beginning, she told me that she didn't want to marry Elijah and she was going to call it off. When my oldest brother Finn renounced his claim to join the church, she couldn't resist the offer of being Crown Princess, eventually Queen and I realised that she had no plans to call it off or put me out of misery." He explained, leaning forward so his elbows were propped up on her knees and his hands were fidgeting together. Caroline watched him intently as he spoke. "So I told her that I couldn't do it anymore and if she didn't tell Elijah, I would. She didn't like it, she knew that Elijah trusted me over her and she needed to destroy my credibility."

The penny dropped for Caroline. "She planted that story?" She guessed. Klaus nodded once.

"She paid the photographer to scope out her balcony and invited me around a week before the wedding, kissed me and I lost it, kissed her back. I thought it was a poetic last kiss, but two days before the big day, that headline comes out. The day after that, a statement is released from the palace. Tatia told everyone in the statement that I had forced myself onto her, seemingly to save the wedding of the century and everyone brought it, including my family." He explained, standing up and walking over to his suitcase to discard his bowtie. Caroline's eyes softened. "After all, I was the third born son who dropped out of Oxford and she was a princess of the people. With my reputation destroyed, I just turned it off and took the first plane out to Rio."

"She continued to defame you for months, told the press about how you'd been trying it on with her for months. Even the papers in my country were keeping tabs on it." Caroline replied, standing up and walking over to Klaus. She wasn't sure how to comfort him; she'd never been so close to him that she needed to. She put her hands on his shoulders, pressing her face against his shoulder blade with a sigh. Klaus craned his neck slightly to see his wife standing pressed up against his back and smiled softly so she didn't see.

"I don't remember much of the months after that, I didn't read the papers but they definitely followed me wherever I want. The next thing I clearly remember is…" he trailed off because he didn't need to answer the question. The next thing he remembered was seeing her in that throne room and her bringing his mistake back to haunt him after months of blocking it out. It had been like a bucket of ice water that he needed to wake up. Caroline sighed softly and closed her eyes for a second, enjoying how comfortable they felt together. Dare she say it; she was going to miss moments like this when he was gone…

"I think you're right…about the marriage." She broke the silence with her statement. Klaus didn't react to her eye, still staring out of the window at the city he'd been born in that didn't feel like his home anymore. When he thought of home, he thought of his rooms back at Caroline's palace, he thought of the dining table he ate breakfast at with Caroline and the sofas she did her paperwork at some nights whilst he read. "I think we should extend it another year."

* * *

At a garden party the next day, Caroline was standing in a dress and trying not to freeze to death whilst Klaus had vanished. A dignitary was talking to her and the Queen was having trouble listening, her eyes scanning the crowd. "Are you okay, Your Majesty?" The Duke asked her curiously, obviously noticing that she was distracted. Caroline snapped back to the conversation and assured him that she was fine. "It's fine, I remember when I was first married. I never wanted to be apart from my spouse either during the honeymoon period." He told her.

Caroline wanted to laugh but she instead smiled, spotting Klaus out of the corner of her eye. "Excuse me, Duke. I'll be back." She excused herself as she began across the frozen ground and made her way through the crowd. She didn't know why she'd brought her fan, Klaus hadn't been joking when he said that it was always cold in his country and no wonder he'd laughed when he'd seen the thin pantyhose she'd pulled on. She really regretted that decision now, her legs were about to fall off. She expected to find her husband sulking by himself with a scotch but instead found him sat on a bench with a little girl in his lap as she played a game on a nintendo DS, giving her instructions.

Now, Caroline had a degree in political science not biology but she knew it was a fact that a woman's pants are 100% more droppable when they saw a man as attractive as Klaus with a girl as cute and adorable as the one in his lap. She smiled at the sight and cleared her throat. The pair of them looked up at the same time and automatically looked guilty. "I knew you were off with some other girl." She chuckled.

"This is my niece, Alessa, Rebekah's daughter." Klaus explained as he paused the game for the girl and stood up, letting her slide off her lap. He crouched down to the little girl's height; she can't have been more than five. "Alessa, this is my wife, Caroline. She's the Queen of a big country."

Alessa's eyes widened. "Now I have a grandma and an aunt who's Queen!" She exclaimed, bouncing on her toes. Caroline grinned stupidly at the girl's words and put her hands forward to shake the little girl's hand. "Uncle Nik was showing me how to get to the next level on my game. My Daddy isn't very good at games and Mama doesn't think it's very ladylike." She explained.

"That's very kind of him."

"Uncle Nik is the best." Alessa told her with a smile, looking at her uncle. "You must know that or you wouldn't have married him."

"You're right, I do know that." She smiled.

* * *

They suffered through the rest of the visit and said goodbye at the airfield where their private jet waited to take them home whilst reporters called out absurdly private questions. But they had witty, thought out responses for each of them, they were skilled at making the press believe their love story now. Caroline held in her hands a bouquet of the flowers the country is famous for and wore a dress of red for the colours of the Mikaelson house and sigil that Esther had given her as a present. Klaus had one hand on the small of her back again as they answered questions.

"Is the Prince a good kisser?" One of the reporters shouted. Caroline blushed bright red to match her dress and responded politely that he was one of the best she'd experienced. She didn't tell them that Klaus was one of two men she'd ever kissed so there wasn't much competition. Klaus smirked proudly and looked over at his wife. They didn't realise for the first few seconds that the crowd was beginning to shout for them to kiss, which made Caroline blush deeper and deeper.

"I think they want us to kiss." Klaus smirked, their voices low so they couldn't be heard.

"They want us to do much more than that, but they wait until they're behind computer screens to make those kind of demands." She chuckled lightly, eyeing the crowd with a smile that Klaus enjoyed seeing. It wasn't her show smile she put on for politicians, it was a real smile that she showed to the public that she adored and served. "It's up to you." She assured him.

Klaus chuckled and leaned over to press his lips to hers softly, cupping her jaw as he did to keep her close to him during the kiss. She instantly moulded her lips to his and they softened to his touch, the kiss full of innocence and promise. This was nothing like their kiss at their wedding or any of their public kisses before, this was a real kiss that meant something. What that was, they didn't know but they let themselves be swept up in it for a few seconds as the crowd cheered. He pulled away and pressed another quick peck to her lips, smiling as he did.

And with that, an air marshal called them for their flight and the couple waved to the crowds, beginning over to the jet to begin the journey home.

* * *

"So, this is the summer fete where we first met." Klaus chuckled as he approached his wife in the spacious gardens of the palace. Today, stalls and carnival games and even a bouncy castle had been set up for the summer festival that had been celebrated in her kingdom since the dawn of time, and it had been quite the event to plan for Caroline. She turned around in her dress of gold and smiled as he approached. He was right, this was the fete in question and the children were beginning to divvy up the teams for the capture the flag. "Are you not playing this year?" He asked curiously.

"I haven't played since my father died." She explained, looping her arm through his as they walked through the gardens of dignitaries and nobles who'd come to enjoy the glorious weather and festivities. Klaus had grown up in a relatively cold country compared to Caroline's, always warm and sunny but not too hot, and devil may care festivities like this one were sparse.

He gave a look that begged the question. "We used to play the game every year, even though my mother hated me getting my dress wet or my shoes muddy. When he died, it just became something I didn't want to do anymore." She told him as she watched the Lockwood's son shoot at the archery range set up and let out a long sigh when he hit just outside the bulls eye. "They would have him on my father's throne in a second without a moment's hesitation, but I must have a gold ring on my finger. What sort of injustice is that?" She wondered aloud.

Klaus didn't respond, he instead decided to distract her. "Have you ever tried it?" He asked, nodding towards the archery range. She shook her head with a smile. "I guess if you have no need for winning a fair maiden's hand in marriage, archery is rather useless. Regardless you should learn, otherwise how will you defend yourself from rebellions when I'm gone?" He asked her sarcastically as he led her to the range and picked up a bow and arrow.

"My heels double up as a knife for emergencies." She assured him to his amusement, but let him position her on the line. Klaus insisted that she take off her offensive heels before she continue, and she obliged, kicking them off and letting her toes feel the grass underneath her feet as he taught her to load up the bow and aim. Caroline could see a crowd gathering in the corner of her eye and the flash of a camera told her the official palace photographer was documenting the experience between the royal couple as he muttered instructions into her ear. She smirked when he told her to imagine the bull eye was the heart of the person she hated most in the world. "Who do you imagine it as then?" She asked him curiously.

"I think you know." He told her with a voice devoid of emotion. Caroline's smile faltered for a moment and she almost lost her stance but recovered. He instructed her to take a deep breath and then release the arrow when she was ready. One hand on her shoulder and the other on her waist to keep her posture right, Caroline couldn't help but feel comfortable. She may have delayed releasing the arrow for a few long seconds to enjoy the comfort his touch brought her, but when she finally did, the arrow whistled through the air and found its target.

The crowd cheered and applauded as Caroline grinned stupidly at her beating Tyler Lockwood's attempt and turned to wrap her arms around Klaus' neck and hug him. He wrapped his arms around her waist and hugged her back, chuckling as he did. Over Klaus' shoulder, she spotted her mother sitting at a table with some pink lemonade and a displeased face. Caroline may be a Queen, a sovereign in her own right and by her blood, but she was still terrified of her mother.

* * *

"One month left in this marriage, you're supposed to be pushing each other away, and causing public scenes to make a breakup seem inevitable! You're not supposed to be having archery lessons and kissing your husband in public!" Elizabeth Forbes paced back and forth as her daughter sat on the sofa in her mother's rooms that night. Caroline had been called there, the pretence being to have dinner but she knew she was in trouble for her behaviour with Klaus. She felt like a child that had been sent to the head teacher's office or at least what she imagined that would be like if she hadn't had private tutors.

"I'm 22 years old, mother, I don't need you putting me in the corner like a misbehaving child." Caroline deadpanned.

"You're putting yourself and your position in danger by falling for that man, Caroline." Elizabeth replied, which made the Queen perk up and furrow her brow. Falling for Klaus? She wasn't falling for anyone! She wanted to insist to her mother, and then reprimand her mother for being so nosy. Her mother simply scoffed at her bewildered face. "I know you better than anyone, Caroline, you're falling for him and you need to put a stop to it now. You're going to ask for the law to be overturned next month and you need to be independent to show you don't need a husband to rule." She insisted.

"I won't be going up against parliament next month, Klaus and I have decided to extend the marriage for another year to give me my best chance at a good outcome." Caroline told her mother, standing up and facing her mother. Elizabeth looked disbelieving. "You were the one who made me marry Klaus in the first place; mother, and now I will make the decisions of what happens between my husband and me." She insisted.

"Don't you see what he's doing? He's working his way into your heart to get at your power!"

"What? Because no man would ever want me for anything that isn't my crown?" Caroline asked rhetorically as she began out of the rooms that her mother had lived in for 25 years, tears welling up in her eyes as she stammered her way through the sentence. Caroline slammed the door, blocking out her mother's attempt to call her back and continue their argument. She didn't care for what servants or anyone in the hallways thought of her, she ran back to her and Klaus' rooms and the door banged behind her as she swung it shut.

"Caroline?" Klaus walked out of his rooms at the commotion and found the blonde leaning against the door with tears rolling down her cheeks. She tried to smile, but it was contorted by her obvious sorrow and pain so her husband crossed the room to collect her into his arms and bring her close to him, kissing her temple softly. She melted her ice heart and began to sob onto his shoulder.

* * *

Klaus opened the door to their rooms one day and was instantly met with the sight of Caroline asleep against the table, surrounded by reports and papers. He sighed heavily and shook his head, walking around to the blonde as she cushioned her head on her the back of her hand. It was late, and she'd been working hard when Klaus had left to have dinner with another member of parliament. Did this woman ever take a break?

After trying and failing to wake her up, Klaus gave up and simply lifted her into his arms, beginning to carry her into her rooms. He'd never set foot in here before, the walls were a creamy rose colour that matched her silk sheets that he slipped her between. She curled up against the pillows, grumbling in her sleep as Klaus looked over at the pyjamas the maids had folded up and left on a cushioned stool this morning, contemplating whether to change his wife out of her stiff pencil skirt and blouse and into the pyjamas.

He decided against it and instead pulled off her black heels and unrolled her stockings, discarding them on top of her pyjamas and beginning out of the room. Klaus looked back at the Queen asleep on the bed and smiled to himself before turning back to the paper work she'd left unfinished on the table. Caroline would be completely stressed out when she realised that she'd fallen asleep without completing her work, and be a wreck in the morning. Klaus sat in the same chair that he'd found Caroline in, discarding his dinner jacket and rolling up his sleeves as he began to sort through the papers himself.

* * *

Caroline found herself standing alone during the ball to celebrate her and Klaus' first anniversary, with just a glass of champagne to amuse herself with. Moments where she wasn't been bothered by politicians and nobles were rare, and she savoured them usually but today, she found herself lacking in relief of being left alone. Klaus stood talking to Lord Lockwood on the other side of the ballroom, his smirk on his stupid face. The Queen sighed and turned away from the sight, taking another sip of her champagne.

Shouldn't Klaus be standing with her during a ball to celebrate their marriage? She thought to herself as she cast a look around to check the coast was clear. Caroline dipped her fingers into her champagne to pull out the strawberry that floated in the glass and bring it to her lips. Caroline and her father had done these for years during balls, watching out for the other to make sure they weren't caught engaging in such bad manners. She bit into the strawberry and smiled to herself.

"I saw that." Caroline turned to see Klaus standing behind her, instantly rolling her eyes and finishing off the strawberry. He chuckled as she finished off the glass and put it aside. "I suppose this is the part where I ask you to dance but do try not to step on my foot again." He suggested, offering up his hand. She chuckled and nodded.

"I suppose that is." She smiled, putting her hands in his and letting him lead her onto the dance floor to begin dancing like they had on their wedding day. This time, they clasped hands a little tighter and his hand was higher up her waist to keep her close to him. He smiled as they danced. "Thank you for doing the papers, you really shouldn't have." She spoke after a few seconds, remembering how she'd woken up that morning to find all her papers sorted and completed except for her signature but Klaus had left the ones that needed her to sign them aside.

"I wasn't about to let you lose out on your beauty sleep." He told her. "Besides, what are husbands for?" He asked her rhetorically.

Her smile faded for a second and she fixed it back in place, but Klaus' concerned expression gave away the fact that he'd seen her moment of uncertainty. "Do you honestly think you could stand this for another year? You could go home and marry someone you actually love; you don't have to stay here with me for my benefit alone." She reminded him, speaking lowly so they wouldn't be overheard by the party goers. Klaus smiled and removed his hand from her waist to tuck some hair away from her face.

"Never been more certain in my life, I'm not leaving until you have that crown glued to your head." He assured her which made her smile brightly and giggle. Caroline smiled when he pressed his lips to her temple to reassure her and closed her eyes slightly. She didn't want to tell him that she was beginning to dread the day that they signed those divorce papers and he left her.

* * *

It was three months later when Klaus was woken by a knock on his bedroom door late at night and furrowed his brow, walking over from the easel he'd had set up in his room and beginning over to the door. He didn't know why he was surprised that Caroline was standing there but he was regardless. "How can I help you this evening?" He asked curiously.

"The heating's broke in my bedroom."

"I may not be first in line but that doesn't make me a plumber, love, I don't know anything about heating." He reminded her. She rolled her eyes and shook her head slowly.

"They can't get anyone out to fix it before tomorrow, and it's like an ice box in there. It doesn't help that it's the middle of November either. I was wondering if I could sleep in here tonight. I won't be any trouble, I just need a good night's sleep for taking on some budget meetings tomorrow, and they test my patience even on a good day." She explained, wrapped up warm in her pyjamas and a dressing gown with slippers. Klaus sighed and nodded, gesturing for her to come inside. He went to his bathroom to wash his hands of paint when he heard her speak. "I didn't know you painted."

"Was it not in the file?" He quipped as he emerged, grabbing a towel to dry his hands. "I sell them sometimes, but most of them are back home. If my father didn't have them thrown out or burnt. Your father brought one of my first paintings when I was 18; it's hanging in the palace to this day." He told her simply as she looked at the painting he'd been working on, sitting down on the chaise lounge opposite the easel.

"Which one?" She asked pointedly, shocked by this news. "I know every single painting in this place and none of them were painted by you." She insisted.

"That's because I sell them under different names, or people would buy them just for the sake of having a painting done by royalty." He smirked and began to pack away his paints into the box he stored them, along with his charcoal and pencils. She asked again which one of the paintings had been painted by him when he was a teenager and he shook his head. "You'll just have to figure it out for yourself…Now don't you have a meeting in the morning?" He told her.

Caroline scowled at his cryptic answer before she tugged off her dressing gown and abandoned it on the chaise. She stood up and began over to the bed. Klaus was still in just his sweats and bare chested. "How can you stand to be dressed like that on a night like this?" She asked as Klaus got into bed next to her. She kicked off her slippers and swung her legs up into the bed, lying back. This was only the second time they'd slept next to each other in their year and 3 month marriage. That had to be some sort of depressing record.

"This is an Indian summer in my country." He replied simply, grabbing the blanket from the end of the bed and unfurling it over his wife. She smiled and pulled the blanket close, turning on her side so she was facing him. He faced her and smiled. "Now stop getting an eyeful and get some rest." He chuckled.

"Good night, Nik." She told him, closing her eyes. The nickname was new, but she liked the way it rolled off her tongue and Klaus liked the way it sounded in her voice. Klaus smiled as his wife slowly began to drift off and shudder again at the cold. He wrapped an arm around her waist tightly and pulled her close so she could share in his body heat, her head slipping onto his chest as she continued to sleep on. He smiled and closed his own eyes.

"Good night, Caroline."

* * *

Caroline was woken by the early morning light, opening her eyes and looking around to see she was lying on Klaus' chest. She sat up, stretching sleepily and trying to remember when she'd curled up against her husband or whether she'd just done it in her sleep. She swallowed thickly as Klaus slept on, no engagements or meetings to attend. She slipped from the bed and pulled her slippers and dressing gown on before leaving the bedroom.

Yeah, she was deep now and she knew it. Caroline walked into her own bedroom and began to get ready for the day, swallowing down all her emotions and putting on her mask along with her makeup.

* * *

Klaus and Caroline were drinking some whiskey that a Scottish noble had given them as a present on a visit in front of the fire place one evening, the blonde giggling like mad as the whiskey played with her mind. Klaus held his liquor a bit better and watched amused as the queen fell off the sofa and onto the floor from laughing. "When I was at college, I never had this much fun." She assured him between sips. "Political based colleges are so stiff upper lipped, filled with people who can't afford to have drunk pictures of them ready to be dug up when they're running for election."

"I didn't let it stop me." He told her. "But I left after one year, so what do I know?"

"I've had to be perfect, girly, little Caroline since the day I was born. I worked so hard to be suitable to take the throne when I was old enough and then they told me last minute that I was missing one crucial detail." She told him. "I remember seeing the pictures of you and Prince Harry in the papers, I wished I could have a minute as impulsive as the nights you can have. But nope." Caroline popped the p on the nope and sighed heavily, filling up her glass once more and swirling the glass like Klaus did sometimes when he had a scotch.

Caroline pulled herself back up onto the couch next to Klaus and took another sip of her drink. "Maybe you should follow some of your impulses sometimes." He suggested lightly, taking a sip from his own glass.

"Even if they might land me in hot water?" She asked him with an arched eyebrow, Klaus only just noticed that they were getting very close. Caroline could feel her husband's breath on her face, and their noses and lips were inches away from each other. Her eyes flickered from his eyes to his lips and suddenly he was taking the two glasses and putting them on a side table behind him, all the while staying close to her. "Even if they might get me into a _lot _of trouble?" She asked.

"If it's what you want, then nobody will stop you, Caroline. You made that clear the first day we met." He reminded, his hand coming up to cup the side of her jaw lightly. His fingertips brushed the side of her face and she smirked at his comment.

"There is something I want." She told him softly. "But I wonder very often whether the feeling is reciprocated."

"Maybe it's worth taking the leap and finding out." Klaus replied as his fingers sank into her curls and her hand came to rest on his chest. For a second, he thought that she was going to push him away and the spell would be broken but she curled her fingers into his shirt instead. A moment later, their lips touched. At first it was a soft peck, but it quickly morphed into something deeper and hotter as his hand moved through her hair and cupped the back of her neck to keep their lips together. Her fingers became tighter around his shirt and she let a little noise against his lips.

"Stay with me." It was both a command and a question at the same time as she breathed the words against Klaus' lips. He didn't disrupt the kiss as he realised what she was asking, she was asking him to stay with her even after the next year was up and be hers forever. She nipped at his bottom lip with a fine amount of skill for someone who'd only kissed two men in her life and one of them was in front of her. He moved his free hand to her waist and began to push her back onto the sofa, their lips not detaching for one second.

"Of course." He replied softly as their kiss continued for god knows how long.

* * *

"Parliament is now in session. Her Majesty, the Queen is presiding." Klaus sat back in his seat the next day as Caroline took her seat at the front of the room, the entire room beginning to sit back down after rising for her entrance. He smirked at the look of contempt on Lord Lockwood's face as the young Queen swept past him and the speaker of the assembly began the session of parliament. They quickly went over the minutes of the last meeting and the agenda for today, starting with the Queen's statement.

He didn't know why she had insisted on sitting and speaking in parliament today of all days, she usually allowed the Lords to make their own decisions and only made appearances when it was necessary but today she had no real reason to be here. She hadn't shared that she would be coming to parliament with Klaus, let alone someone else. She was called to speak, and stood in her space; Klaus may be out of his mind but he could swear she was avoiding his eye. "Gentleman, I'll be brief; I'm sure you have much to discuss to make this country a better place for my people but I would like to return to a matter that I presented to parliament just over a year ago. I would like make a motion to abolish the marriage law for female heirs of the royal blood line."

There was a murmur, but Klaus couldn't speak. Why was she doing this? Why was she moving to have the law abolished if they weren't separating? Is this the hot water she was referring to last night? Did she simply want him for a moment but not forever? Did she really want to divorce him and be the independent queen she always wanted to be? Had she been lying to him last night? He could barely focus as the speaker called for a vote, a secret ballot as was tradition in this parliament.

Klaus didn't feel the slightest bit of guilt when he voted against abolishing the motion. It didn't make the slightest bit of difference, Caroline held the majority vote and like that, she was free. All she needed was his signature on some divorce papers. Caroline left for the rest of the session, but Klaus was forced to stay, tapping his fingers against the wooden desk in front of him.

* * *

"What the hell?" Klaus almost roared as he burst into their rooms later that day. Caroline was sat at the dining table, going through some reports. She was bare foot and still wearing the dress she'd worn to the session of parliament, standing up when her husband burst into the room. He shut the door behind him and began to pace. "I thought that you actually felt something for me, but you're still that power hungry princess you were when we met."

"What are you talking about? What did I do?" She asked, furrowing her brow.

"You made me fall in love with you, that's what you did." Klaus replied before he could think what he was saying through. This was the first time he'd admitted it to himself or her that he was completely enchanted with the Queen he'd been manipulated into marrying. He had fallen in love with her as her mask fell away and she stripped away his in turn. He spoke the words like an accusation and Caroline looked just as shocked as he felt. She abandoned her papers and walked around the table, but not too close to him.

"If we're pointing fingers about love, then I'd like to tell you that you made me fall in love with you first." She insisted. Klaus' chest puffed up when she told him that she loved him. Not just that, she was in love with him. She wanted to be with him. So why had she'd had the law that would allow her to be free of him abolished? He asked her as calmly as he could manage despite the fact the woman he loved had just confessed her love him too. "Because I may want you around, I may love you but there will be princesses in the future who may not want to have to marry someone they barely know to keep their throne. I didn't do it for myself, I did it for them."

Klaus pinched the bridge of his nose and wondered why he hadn't seen that before. Caroline was a saint after all, she would think of other people that would be affected by the law that brought them together. He swallowed thickly as Caroline leaned back against one of the dining table chairs, watching him digest this news. "So, how long are we staying married?" He asked for clarification.

"I was thinking until we die?" She suggested with a small, cheeky smile.

Klaus chuckled and shook his head. "That works for me, love." He smiled, beginning over to his wife and pulling her close as her lips joined his. It was as passionate as their kiss the night before but as soft as their kiss as the airport. She cupped his jaw with both hands and smiled onto his lips. "Let's go on our honeymoon." He teased her, moving his hands to cup the back of her thigh and picking her up. Her legs wrapped around his hips as their kiss continued.

"Right now?" She asked with a smirk.

"I think we've been waiting long enough." He replied as he pressed up against the wall next to her bedroom, moving to unzip her dress at the side and her hands began to pull off his jacket. She moaned in agreement as they began to leave a trail of clothes to the bed and finally used the bed for something other than sleeping.

* * *

After they were both completely sated and breathless, they lay in the sheets kissing each other sweetly to contrast the hot passion they'd been rolling about in only a short while before. The sun was only beginning to set, casting an orange glow on the room as Klaus kissed his wife once more softly and smiled against her lips, holding her bare shoulder in one hand as he did. "I love you." He reminded her between kisses, having told her multiple times during their marriage's consummation, a sentiment she'd returned fully.

"I love you too." She smiled back, returning the kiss.


End file.
